Similar to the regulation of fluorocarbon gas in Australia under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Regulations 1995, Europe has its own regulations in place to minimise fluorocarbon refrigerant emissions into the atmosphere.
The European Union’s regulations initially aimed to improve leak-tightness of equipment containing f-gases. Measures include: labelling of equipment containing f-gases, training and certification of personnel and companies handling these types of gases, containment and proper recovery.
More recently, following a review of existing regulations, the European Parliament reached an agreement on new refrigerant bans to be introduced as early as 2015. A phase-down target of 79% HFC gases was one of the main decisions reached. As well, a service and maintenance ban on high-GWP refrigerants, over 2500 GWP, will come into effect 2020.
Source: www.arctick.org